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When installed in a supported Linux virtual machine running on Hyper-V, the Linux Integration Components provide:

• Driver support for synthetic devices: The Linux integration components include support for both the synthetic network controller and synthetic storage controller that have been developed specifically for Hyper-V. These components take advantage of the new high-speed bus, VMBus, which was developed for Hyper-V.

The RemoteFX feature allows Windows 7 SP1 and applications running in virtual machines to provide the same user experience as though they were running on a physical computer.

The RemoteFX feature also allows remote users to redirect local USB devices to their Remote Desktop sessions.( I will talk about this in my next article )

The following steps will help you understand how RemoteFX improves the user experience when running Windows 7 and applications in a virtualized environment :

1. Install Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Verify that the appropriate device drivers have been installed for the 3D accelerated video display adapter.Unless the appropriate device drivers are installed for the 3D accelerated video display adapter, you cannot start the Windows 7 virtual machine with the RemoteFX 3D Video Adapter Support enabled

Install the Hyper-V server role.

Install the Remote Desktop Services server role with the following role services:

On the Local Resources tab(Remote Desktop Connection client), in Apply Windows key combinations, select one of the following:

Only when using full screen. Select this option if you are going to run the Remote Desktop session in full screen.

On the remote computer. Select this option if you are going to run the Remote Desktop session in a window.

On the Experience tab, in Performance section, select LAN (10Mbps or higher) and verify that all the check boxes are selected.

Log on Windows 7 SP1.

Change the theme for the Windows 7 to use an Aero theme. The desktop theme should appear with all the Aero features, such as transparency.

As you can see the RemoteFX feature allows Windows 7 SP1 and applications running in virtual machines to provide the same user experience as though they were running on a physical computer.

Other improvements in Windows 7 SP1 :

· Additional support for communication with third-party federation services – Additional support has been added to allow Windows 7 clients to effectively communicate with third-party identity federation services (those supporting the WS-Federation passive profile protocol).
· Improved HDMI audio device performance – Updates have been incorporated into SP1 to ensure that connections between Windows 7 computers and HDMI audio devices are consistently maintained.
· Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents – Prior to the release of SP1, some customers have reported difficulty when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents (documents containing pages in both portrait and landscape orientation) using the XPS Viewer, resulting in all pages being printed entirely in either portrait or landscape mode. This issue has been addressed in SP1, allowing users to correctly print mixed-orientation documents using the XPS Viewer.

Some of the improvements for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 include:
• Dynamic Memory – Dynamic Memory allows for memory on a host machine to be pooled and dynamically distributed to virtual machines as necessary. Memory is dynamically added or removed based on current workloads, and is done so without service interruption.
• Microsoft RemoteFX – a new set of remote user experience capabilities that enable a media-rich user environment for virtual desktops, session-based desktops and remote applications
• Enhancements to scalability and high availability when using DirectAccess – improvements have been made to enhance scalability and high availability when using DirectAccess, through the addition of support for 6to4 and ISATAP addresses when using DirectAccess in conjunction with Network Load Balancing (NLB).
• Support for Managed Service Accounts (MSAs) in secure branch office scenarios – enhanced support for managed service accounts (MSAs) to be used on domain-member services located in perimeter networks (also known as DMZs or extranets).
• Support for increased volume of authentication traffic on domain controllers connected to high-latency networks – more granular control of the maximum number of possible concurrent connections to a domain controller, enabling a greater degree of performance tuning for service providers.
• Enhancements to Failover Clustering with Storage – SP1 enables enhanced support for how Failover Clustering works with storage that is not visible for all cluster nodes. In SP1, improvements have been made to the Cluster Validation and multiple Failover Cluster Manager wizards to allow workloads to use disks that are shared between a subset of cluster nodes.

Note : once the final build of SP1 ships, you’ll need to uninstall the RC version in order to upgrade.

The Windows Server 2008 R2 Security Baseline, in combination with the Security Compliance Manager tool, is designed to help your organization plan, deploy, and monitor the security of Windows Server 2008 R2. This release also includes a Windows Server 2008 R2 settings pack, enabling you to define baselines that include settings outside the scope of the security baselines from Microsoft.

The following Windows server operating systems support Dynamic Memory when installed as the guest operating system on a virtual machine:

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition SP1*

Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition SP1

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition SP1

Windows Server 2008 R2 Web Edition SP1*

Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition SP2*

Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition SP2

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition SP2

Windows Server 2008 Web Edition SP2*

Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition SP2 or higher*

Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition SP2 or higher

Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition SP2 or higher

Windows Server 2003 R2 Web Edition SP2 or higher*

Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition SP2 or higher*

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP2 or higher

Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition SP2 or higher

Windows Server 2003 Web Edition SP2 or higher*

Note: The Beta release of Service Pack 1 does not support Dynamic Memory for the operating systems marked with an asterisk (*) above. However, support for Dynamic Memory for these operating systems will be added in a future release of SP1.